[Event "GotM #45"] [Site "Baden-Baden"] [Date "1925.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Reti, Richard"] [Black "Alekhine, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Connaughton, Ken"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "1925.??.??"] [EventCountry "GER"] 1. g3 {King's Fianchetto Opening, also sometimes called Benko's Opening, Hungarian Opening, Barcza Opening or Bilek Opening. This can lead to the English Opening, King's Indian Attack or a number of other openings.} e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Nd4 d5 4. d3 exd3 5. Qxd3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Nxd2 O-O 9. c4 Na6 10. cxd5 Nb4 11. Qc4 Nbxd5 12. N2b3 c6 13. O-O Re8 {[#] The dust has settled after the opening and what do we see? White will probably try a minority attack on the Queenside? Black's possibilities are less clear but he will probably be trying to prepare a Kingside attack.} 14. Rfd1 Bg4 15. Rd2 Qc8 16. Nc5 Bh3 17. Bf3 Bg4 18. Bg2 Bh3 19. Bf3 Bg4 20. Bh1 {White is determined to keep his lightsquare Bishop on the board.} h5 {Black is happy to invest his h-pawn in the attack.} 21. b4 {White ignores the other wing and continues his assault on Black's Queenside.} a6 {[%CAl Ya6b5,Yc6b5]} 22. Rc1 {[%CAl Rc1c8]} h4 23. a4 {White does not believe Black's threat is fast enough to warrant an immediate response.} hxg3 24. hxg3 Qc7 {[%CAl Rc7g3] This move is designed to weaken White's control of e3. The overloaded f-pawn will have to favor the defense of g3.} 25. b5 axb5 26. axb5 {It looks like Black's pawn majority on the Queenside is about to be reduced to a solitary weak pawn whose long term defense would likely be futile. He needs to find an idea to gain impetus or soon he'll be fighting for a draw.} Re3 $3 {[#] And here it is. The previous move made this invasion possible.} 27. Nf3 {Bf3, Kh2 and Bg2 were a little better, the text move is a slight error and the position requires more precision now.} (27. fxe3 $4 Qxg3+ 28. Bg2 Nxe3 $19 {[%CAl Rg3g2] and ...Qxg2# can't be delayed for very long.}) (27. Bf3 $14) (27. Kh2 $11) (27. Bg2 $11) 27... cxb5 {Black decides to resolve matters on the Queenside and simplify the position.} 28. Qxb5 Nc3 29. Qxb7 Qxb7 30. Nxb7 {Black accepts the elimination of his Queenside majority but he has a new idea.} Nxe2+ 31. Kh2 Ne4 $1 { [%CAl Re4f2,Re4g3]} (31... Nxc1 32. fxe3 $15 {But White can defend this.}) 32. Rc4 Nxf2 {[%CAl Rf2h1]} (32... Nxd2 $2 33. Nxd2 $11) 33. Bg2 {[#] White preserves his Bishop but believe it or not Black has a forcing line in this position that wins the game.} Be6 {[%CAl Gf2g4] Black wins a tempo to get his e2-Knight off the second rank. The Knights are a little vulnerable lined up like this so he solves this problem with the text move.} 34. Rcc2 {White decides to threaten the Knights.} (34. Rb4 $19) (34. Rc5 $19) 34... Ng4+ 35. Kh3 (35. Kh1 $4 Ra1+ $19) 35... Ne5+ 36. Kh2 (36. Kh4 $4 Re4+ {[%csl Rh4][%CAl Re6h3,Re6g4]}) 36... Rxf3 $1 {The long diagonal provides the basis for this decisive combination.} 37. Rxe2 Ng4+ 38. Kh3 Ne3+ 39. Kh2 Nxc2 40. Bxf3 { It seems like White's position is okay, he is just a pawn down and should hold relatively easily.} Nd4 {No problem right?} 41. Rf2 {Problem solved.} Nxf3+ 42. Rxf3 Bd5 {[%CAl Rd5b7,Rd5f3,Gd5b3] [#] And now we see what Alekhine saw after 33...Bg2. This forcing combination compels Reti to resign here.} 0-1